The Nightmare Becomes Him
by TheNextStormrage
Summary: A seemingly normal day at Zed's dojo becomes ominous as he senses a greater danger on the horizon. Asking Kayn to finish teaching his class, he makes his way outside to meditate on the impending threat.
1. The Nightmare Becomes Him

**The Nightmare Becomes Him**

"Again."

The students - in pairs - bowed to their partners and began to spar. As the training went on, the teacher ‒ pacing back and forth ‒ watched his students fumble, stagger, and fall. Sloppy technique littered the training grounds: kicks and punches lacked full extension and evasive slips and ducks were far too slow.

"Your expectations are too high for them, master. They are only novices in your Order of Shadow." A man, perhaps in his early twenties, approached the instructor with a grin and folded his arms across his bare chest. "They don't even know how to channel the dark arts yet; they should at least be experts in martial arts first, don't you think?"

"They are not learning fast enough." The teacher paused and tilted his head upwards in search of thoughts. "They react to my teachings like oil does water. They _refuse_ to process the information as they jump headstrong and arrogant into something they've barely taken the time to understand. There is too much unchecked _hubris_ within their young minds..."

"What's the rush? It's not like Noxus is invading anytime soon. That place is filled with idiots anyways." The boy leaned one shoulder against the wall. "I don't think they're coming back here after their disaster of an attempt last time."

"It is not Noxus I'm worried about, Kayn." Black smoke trailed off his armor, sending whispers of another language into the air.

"What could possibly cause you such grief?" Kayn put his hand on his master's shoulder. "We are the most powerful Order in Ionia! Surely you are overreacting?"

"No." The teacher brushed Kayn's hand off and began walking towards the door. His shadow ‒ finally manifesting with smoke ascending off its figure ‒ remained where he once stood, looked at Kayn, and shrugged.

"Zed!" Kayn chuckled. "Your shadow is as lost as I."

Zed stood still for a moment, his back facing the class he taught just a short moment ago. He removed his helmet and placed it on a nearby wooden bench. Turning his head to look at his protégé, he grimaced: his forehead creased and his eyebrows pinched together, causing his eyelids to squint around the red irises. "Finish teaching my class."

"As you wish." Kayn bowed first to Zed ‒ then to the class ‒ and began wrapping up the training session. The star pupil turned towards the dojo's entrance one last time only to see the door closing behind the phantom that was Zed's shadow.

Life outside the dojo radiated with life ‒ the creatures and plants surrounding the Order of Shadow's den seemed oblivious to the dark arts practiced within ‒ or perhaps they had simply become acclimated to the aura emanating from the pagoda towering above them. Zed meditated in a field of poppies near his school while his shadow sat beside him doing the same. The aroma of sage incense floated up on either side of the Master of Shadows as the smoke only caught the breeze of the westward wind by the time it reached the height of his chest. Footsteps could be heard a short distance away.

"How goes the meditation?" Kayn asked.

"Well," Zed replied. "Until your arrival."

"Then allow me to join you. Shall I sit next to you or your shadow?" Zed's companion lifted its head at its beckoning and raised its hand.

"Ignore it." Zed patted the ground to his left. "Sit."

"You two should 'rock, paper, scissors' for it."

"Funny."

"The students are at rest." Kayn grunted as he sat down and picked off some stray poppies that had been blown onto his lap. "Now tell me, what troubles you?"

"It seems my years of practicing this forbidden art have finally caught up with me." Zed clutched his side and winced. As he removed his hand, shadows trickled from his flesh.

"This doesn't make any sense." Kayn sprung up. "You don't see Shen imploding with the arcane energy he wields ‒ "

"Kayn ‒ "

"You don't see Kennen having to fight back the very lightning powers he's mastered ‒ "

"Kayn!" Zed yelled.

The distressed pupil paused. He turned to look at the shadows that now oozed from his master's scarlet eyes and let out a roar as he punched a tree. "What is happening to you?"

"The power I've taken is a nightmare disguised as a shadow. It yearns to be cut loose from my will which chains it. It desires freedom from the cage that is my body." The red in Zed's irises faded into the blackness that invaded his eyes. "I can see it now ‒ the unspeakable horrors ‒ the boundless rage seething from its existence! It craves death and I…" Zed sighed. "I am its first victim."

Kayn looked on as his master struggled and moved closer to try and help him. "Tell me what to do."

"There is nothing you can do!" Zed grabbed Kayn's throat and pulled him in, his voice becoming more hollowed ‒ more frail. "The shrouded path in front of me ‒" Zed leaned his head in closer. "I fear it."

Kayn's eyes widened and broke away from Zed's grip. "If you can't stop it ‒" he held out his hand and summoned the Darkin weapon he had conquered long ago. "Then I will!" The student thrust the dark blue scythe into the chest of his master, but nothing happened.

"I thought I was the shadow's weapon..." Zed grunted and grabbed the hilt of the blade with one hand. "But I've become its tool."

The shadows became frenzied as they swirled ‒ whispered ‒ around the Master of Shadows. Kayn staggered backwards and beckoned his weapon to him before it became lost in the chaos. Zed's body could no longer be seen.

"Time to go," said a voice from behind.

"Who ‒ " Kayn turned around to see a bald man with blueish purple skin ‒ skin covered in ancient runes. Scrolls were strapped to his back and tomes to his waist. His breathing faltered as if he had just ran miles to arrive at his current destination.

"No need to stare at me with those loving eyes of yours, boy. We need to go before the transformation." The man opened one of his books and began skimming through the pages.

"And why would I listen to you?" Kayn hoisted his weapon and held the blade to the neck of the visitor. "Ryze."

"Because life is a beautiful thing," Ryze pointed towards the tornado of shadows, "and that doesn't agree with me."

Kayn's gaze drifted from the mage to the paranoia behind him. Two white eyes pierced the contained storm ‒ like two moons in the night sky ‒ and they were looking right back at him.

"So ‒ "

"No games." Kayn pressed the steel under Ryze's chin with more pressure. "What's happening to him?"

"Not what," the mage grunted as blood trickled from his neck. "Who."

"Darkness…" The voice echoed from the maelstrom as a faint pulse was let out. All the plant life within a few miles of the epicenter withered.

"We are out of time." Ryze lowered the scythe from his neck with two fingers and resumed his search through the tome he opened earlier. "Got it."

"What are you doing?"

"Getting us out of here." The runes on his skin glowed as raw arcane power smoked off the them. "By the way, I forgive you for almost slitting my throat."

"It was self defense." Another pulse reverberated, this time causing Kayn to lose balance. "You're not going to save Zed?"

"There is nothing left to save." Ryze dropped his book as an azure ring shimmered around the two men. The ground within the limits of the circle became saturated with arcane energy and a forcefield manifested around them.

"My legs are disappearing," Kayn said looking down, then at Ryze, then down again.

"Yes they are." Ryze grinned, but would not break concentration.

"My legs are disappearing?"

"Yes."

"Is that normal?"

"Yes."

"What do you mean, 'yes?'"

"It's a teleportation spell." Ryze rolled his eyes.

"Oh."

"Try not to think about it too much." Ryze sighed. "And don't turn around."

Opposite the mage's advice, Kayn turned to see what his master had become. A wraith emerged from the vortex: stitches held its mouth shut and its eyes glowed with white nothingness. The red plate on its arms extended into sickle-like blades causing the sound of metal grinding on metal to pierce the crackling of the arcane boundary. As the entity neared the forcefield ‒ leaving a dusk trail behind it ‒ it laughed, but by the time it reached the barrier, Ryze and Kayn were gone.

"In due time…" The demon's voice echoed through the valleys. It ran one of its blades through the ashes of the spell, shook the arcane dust off, and made its way towards the dojo.


	2. Lost at Sea

**Lost at Sea**

"I hate teleportation." Kayn held his head with one hand ‒ his stomach the other ‒ and groaned. "I feel like I'm about to throw up."

"If this gets your intestines twisted, how do you handle wraith walking?" Ryze watched Kayn retch. His body convulsed, shadows trailing off his hunched back. "You could've turned the other way."

"This is a side effect of your spell! You should watch the consequences of your work ‒ up close and personal." Kayn wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "And wraith-walking is utterly different. Your body doesn't just pick itself up, vanish, and reappear miles away ‒ are you even listening?"

Ryze stood with his back towards the shadow-assassin to look at the surrounding area. A towering city asserted itself from the ground towards the clouds. Blood-stained docks extended off the coastline with ships ‒ military and commercial ‒ sailing in and out of the area. Fins and tentacles poked out above the water's surface and ravens and seagulls circled the shore. The two travelers stood at the edge of one of the docks leading into the main port.

Ryze stroked his beard. "Well this isn't right."

"Come again?"

"By the looks of it, I think we're in Bilgewater."

"You said 'by the looks of it' like the spell wasn't supposed to bring us here."

"Definitely not."

"Well what happened?"

"I panicked."

"You panicked?"

"You saw the demon your master became." Ryze grimaced. "Just be glad I didn't freeze. Then we'd both be dead."

"Yea, whatever." Kayn closed his eyes ‒ lines wrinkled across his forehead ‒ and squeezed the hilt of his scythe. A few seconds later, it decomposed into shadow and faded. "Now what?"

"Let's go into the city and grab some food. We have a long way to go and I don't think you like me much." Ryze brushed some remaining arcane dust off his shoulder and headed into the lower level of the city.

"Cause what we need at this exact moment is quality time together…" Kayn mumbled as he followed the mage. "You may want to put something on to cover your skin, lest you attract unwanted attention."

"Nonsense!" Ryze threw his arms into the air. "The people of Bilgewater are extremely accepting ‒ its quite amazing actually."

"I didn't take you for the picky type, Kayn." Ryze finally broke the silence that engulfed their walk.

"I'm not picky."

"Alright, then let's go here." Ryze pointed to a bar a short distance ahead.

"Well, 'The Kraken's Feast' seems inviting." Kayn scratched his head. "You don't suppose the bar's name is literal, do you?"

"Probably not."

"Probably?"  
"This is Bilgewater after all."

"If Illaoi is in there and knocks your head in with that kraken-idol of hers, don't come crying to me." Kayn opened the door and threw his arm out, gesturing the mage to walk in first. "Blue skinned baldies first."

Ryze walked into the bar and glanced around. The scents of alcohol, puke, mildew, and body odor mixed in the air to create a unique stench. Humans, and creatures with humanoid figures, sat at tables and stools; some had closed eyes and open mouths ‒ likely passed out ‒ others guzzled drinks, alcohol dripping down their chins and necks to the puddled floor, and a few flirted with the barmaids.

"Well I'll be damned." Ryze grinned and pointed towards a woman sitting at the end of the bar. "It's Sarah."

"Who?" Kayn looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Long lost lover or something?"

"Just stay in the shadows and steal us some drinks while you're at it." Ryze shoved his palm in Kayn's faced, pushing him off to the side, and approached the woman.

"Keep your ego in check." Kayn faded into the shadows.

"Bartender," Ryze motioned the employee towards him. "Two of whatever it is you serve here most often."

The face of the man behind the bar was human, but after turning around to retrieve Ryze's request, a tentacle-like tail was noticeable. The woman named Sarah caught the mage staring at the malformity. "Don't stare, old friend ‒ it's impolite."

"Nonsense ‒ It's not like there are eyes on his tentacle-tail-thing." Ryze brushed an unknown liquid off a wooden stool and sat down. Sarah held her gaze on him with one eyebrow raised. "You're kidding."

"Better safe than sorry. You never know what this forsaken city harbors." The bartender came back with the drinks ‒ glasses filled with mud, pebbles, and rum. Sarah flicked a silver coin towards the humanoid and took a sip of the concoction. "Now tell me, Ryze ‒ what's your business here?"

"Well." Ryze eyed the beverage and pushed it away from him. "Nothing, actually."

"What game are you playing at?"

"No games ‒ I simply had a slight malfunction during a teleportation spell."

"Malfunction?" The woman clenched her fist and banged the table, attracting some looks from other customers. "You don't malfunction."

"If you saw what we were running from, you'd know why."

"We?"

"Yes, I ran into ‒" Ryze felt the tip of a blade on the back of his neck. "Seriously?"

"You're not welcome here, mage." Bystanders stood up to witness the brewing scene. "Why are you here?"

"Back off, Pyke." Sarah rose from her stool and drew her guns, one pointed at the intruder's head and the other at anyone else looking for a brawl.

"This is not your fight, 'Miss Fortune' ‒ that is what they call you, isn't it?." The drowned spirit pressed his knife on Ryze's neck, drawing blood. Whispering emanated throughout the room, but no mouths were moving. "Now lower your guns or your 'old friend' gets it."

"You know I can't do that." The whispering increased in volume as Sarah cocked her pistols.

"Enough chatter." Pyke slithered his blade to the front of Ryze's neck. "I'm going to back out of here slowly with the mage in tow."

"I don't think so." A scythe manifested around Pyke's chest, the weapon's tip pressed against the center of his chest. "Extremely accepting for sure, dumbass."

"Well it's about time." Ryze sighed.

"Who's this?" Sarah and Pyke said in unison.

"Not important." Kayn said. "Do you recognize this weapon, spirit?"

"Yes." Pyke grumbled. "But I don't think you know how to use it, boy."

"Is that so?" Kayn pulled the scythe closer, puncturing Pykes chest. Water began to drip from the wound. "Is that drinkable?"

"This isn't over." Pyke groaned and removed his knife from Ryze's throat and dissolved into a puddle.

"He never answered my question." Kayn willed his scythe away and formed himself back into flesh from the wraith form he had assumed. "What was that about?"

"I didn't think you'd be on his list, Ryze." Sarah cleared her throat. "Then again, he may just dislike magic-wielding beings in general."

"We don't have time to linger on Pyke's agenda ‒ we must focus our efforts on Nocturne and those he turned." Ryze rubbed his neck. "And Kayn?"

"Yeah?"

Ryze placed his hand on the assassin's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Is anyone going to fill me in?" Sarah interjected.

"We need a ship to hunt some demons." Ryze turned to look at Sarah. "You don't happen to have any we can borrow?

"I do." The pirate's face tensed. "But I'm afraid I can't come with you. Ever since I killed Gangplank, Bilgewater has lost any order it may have had under his tyrannical rule. I need to stay here and try to pick up the pieces."

"I see." Ryze extended his hand towards his old friend. "May Fortune favor you, Sarah."

"Stop by again before I get too old to recognize you, eh?" The pirate holstered her guns and shook Ryze's hand. "Go out the door and take a right, take the road all the way down 'till you reach the port, and then take another right. The ship for you is the second to last one down the docks."

"Thanks again." Ryze made his way to the door.

"Nice guns." Kayn grinned. "Too bad I didn't get to see them in action."

"I may be friends with your travelling companion, but I've never been on good terms with practitioners of the dark arts." Sarah set her hand on one of her guns. "Now leave my city before I decide your colleagueship with Ryze isn't enough to save you."

Kayn rolled his eyes and left the tavern to catch up with Ryze. "I don't think she likes me very much."

"I'd have to agree with you there." Ryze chuckled.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Kayn manifested a beer from the shadows and handed it to Ryze. "Now ‒ where we headed?"

"Back to Ionia." Ryze grabbed the beverage from Kayn and took a swig. "Didn't think you'd come through on this."

"I'm pretty sure that was the only drink in the tavern that didn't have piranha or octopus bits in them."

"That's what they were?" Ryze scratched his head. "I just thought they were rocks."

"And I thought mages were supposed to be smart."

"What ‒ just because I can't tell octopus and piranha bits from rocks I'm stupid?"

"Precisely."

"Revel in your jokes while you can."

"Oh I will." Kayn clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Now, why exactly are we going to Ionia again?"

"Because Nocturne is likely going to try and siphon all the magic that courses through the land to make himself stronger."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he's already started." The runes on Ryze's body flickered. "I can feel the land's energy fading."

"Well then." Kayn looked at Ryze. "It looks like we need to get moving."


	3. A Familiar Path

**A Familiar Path**

"I'm pretty sure that's considered cheating." Sitting up from his hammock, Kayn stretched his arms and yawned.

"How's that?" Ryze stood at the bow of the ship with closed eyes and open arms. His hands glowed with arcane energy as his fingers twitched.

"Real sailors and pirates put in blood sweat and tears to keep a boat like this gliding smoothly across the water. It takes effort and teamwork to do whatever it is they do." Kayn stood up from his bed.

"Whatever it is they do?"

"Yea, with the rigs and masts, the pulling and heaving and tieing and all that. I don't know any of that terminology."

Ryze chuckled, and a rope holding the main sail snapped. "Whoops." His fingers closed into a fist and the rope mended itself.

"How long have I been asleep for?"

"Seven hours." Ryze cracked an eye to look at the sun. "Maybe eight."

"Lovely ‒ what can I do?"

"Stop talking."

"I meant with manning the ship."

"Exactly."  
"Huh?"

"I need my full concentration to keep us moving towards our destination. Your talking hinders that."

"I guess that makes sense." Kayn walked over to the helm and attempted to spin the wheel, but Ryze's magic controlled it. "You're no fun."

"Go to the crow's nest and keep a lookout." Ryze heaved in the air around him, and exhaled. A skin of arcane energy spread across the ship ‒ the wood absorbing it ‒ and a small pulse emitted itself, creating a faint wake in the water. "And shut up."

"I'd kill you if I didn't care about the world." The assassin melded into the shadows and glided up the wooden pole. Returning to human form at the top, he looked around the horizon. "Clear. I think."

"You think?" The boat rattled.

"Yea there's this really really tiny black dot to the Northwest." Kayn looked down at the compass he swiped from one of the customers at 'The Kraken's Feast" and pointed. "That is Northwest, right?"

"Yes ‒ that's where we're headed." A book appeared in front of Ryze, and runic engravings surrounded it in the wood. The mage opened his eyes, rested his arms, and stepped out of a similar circle. "That should do it."

"Is the ship being controlled by a book now?"

"Keen observation."

"Then why have you been pointlessly spending your energy this entire time if you could just do that?"

"I enjoy it." Ryze stepped up to the edge of the bow and looked where Kayn had pointed, shielding his eyes from the setting sun with his hand. "That's a Noxian ship."

"How did you come to that conclusion when all we can see is a dot?" Kayn squinted.

"All _you_ can see is a dot." Ryze leaned over the edge. "There's a large statue of an axe guarding the bow of their ship, and its name is 'The Glorious Executioner' I think ‒ it's a little blurry for me."

"Executioner, huh?" Kayn scratched his head. "You said there was an axe statue?"

"Yup."

"That's gotta be Draven's."

"How do you know it's not Urgot? Isn't he Noxus' executioner?"

"As is Draven, at least in the gladiatorial games there." Kayn jumped from the crow's nest and landed next to Ryze. "Plus, the axe is his brother's weapon."

"I see."

"So what's the plan?"

"There is no plan ‒ we sail past it."

"You're kidding, right?"

"We haven't any time for skirmishes ‒ especially with Noxians. We need to get to Ionia."

"And if they want to board us?"

"Let's see if it comes to that first."

"Oh, you know it will." Kayn walked back to the helm. "Now let me steer the damn boat!"

"Play captain all you want." Ryze waved his hand and one of the runes in the circle surrounding the book disappeared. "But don't let your personal issues with Noxus get in the way of this."

Kayn kept a course Northwest. His gaze ‒ fixed on the enemy ship ahead ‒ never faltered. The water wafted the boat back and forth ‒ the mist sometimes spraying him ‒ yet the assassin remained transfixed on what lied ahead. As they neared the Noxian vessel, Kayn jumped at the caw of a raven who landed behind him.

"That better not be a harbinger of Swain." Lines wrinkled on Ryze's forehead.

"It just means he's in the area." Kayn shooed the raven off the red oak railing guarding the stern. "They might have more ships docked at Ionia ‒ can you see a seaport up ahead?"

"Not exactly." Ryze squinted, arcane fumes steaming from his eyes. "There's a whole bunch of Noxians there ‒ Ionian laborers too. Looks like they enslaved them to make a base of operations to import and export supplies. You don't suppose they are preparing for another invasion, do you?"

"I don't know." Their ship slowed, drifting towards the Noxian boat.

"Why is the ship slowing down?"

"Because…" Kayn grinned and melded into shadow. "I know how we can find out."

"Prepare to be boarded!" A Noxian soldier yelled.

"Great…" The two ships stopped parallel to each other, allowing planks to be lowered by the soldiers aboard 'The Glorious Executioner.'

"What is your business in Ionia?" The soldier scanned Ryze.

"I'd like to speak with your captain."

"My captain is indisposed."

"My request stands."

"We don't have time for this." The man drew his weapon. "Soldiers, search the ship."

"Ah…" A silver badge on the Noxian's chest glinted in the sun. "Admiral, I take it?"

"Indeed." The officer stepped towards Ryze. "This ship now belongs to Noxus."

"You really don't want to do that."

"And why's that?"

"Trust me." Ryze lifted his hands in surrender. "Diplomacy is a much better option here."

"Diplomacy?" The Noxian crew laughed in unison.

Shadow tendrils surged from beneath the ship and coiled around each Noxian soldier. The manifestations whispered in an ancient tongue, but one word could be heard through it all: vengeance.

"What is this sorcery?" The admiral asked. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, it's not me." Ryze folded his arms.

"Noxus knows nothing but strength…" A voice pierced the whispering. "So I will show you fools strength!"

The tendrils burst up into the noses, eyes, and ears of the soldiers. As the men clawed at their faces, the admiral remained unscathed. The tendrils surrounding him gripped his legs to the floor.

"Beg like the dog you are." Kayn revealed himself in front of the leader, his body oozing shadows. "Cry out for mercy."

"Release me at once, shadow assassin, or Noxus shall ‒"

"Do nothing to save you from me." The scythe materialized against the admiral's throat.

"Let's take him hostage." Ryze suggested.

"No hostages." Kayn thrust the blade forward, decapitating the Noxian. "No survivors."

"Well they're all dead." Ryze shrugged. "Now what?"

"Not all of them."

"What's all that noise going on?" The captain of 'The Glorious Executioner' stepped out of his quarters and onto the upper deck. "My crew…?"

"You want to kidnap _Draven_?" Ryze threw his arms in the air. "Are you mad?"

"Perhaps."

"That's not a comforting answer."

"No one." Draven hurled an axe at Kayn, but it passed through him. "Is abducting me."

"You're not winning this, Draven." Kayn crossed the planks connecting the ships, followed by Ryze.

"I, for one, have watched enough dark arts in the past two minutes to last me a lifetime." Ryze lowered his hands. "So please, let's all just put down our weapons ‒"

"Throw another one at me." Kayn slithered up the upper deck where Draven stood. "I dare you."

"That's enough." Ryze stomped the ground, causing a rune prison to form around the Noxian. "The crew was one thing, but we are not killing Draven. If Darius catches wind of this ‒"

"I'll tell you what." Kayn returned to a tangible form. "If Draven can say he remembers me, I'll let him live."

"That's not fair!" Draven looked at Kayn, then Ryze. "How is that fair?"

"Tell me, Noxian." Kayn stepped closer." Who am I?"

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"You have five seconds."

"We can talk about this."

"Four."

"Don't do this."

"Three."

"My brother will destroy you both!"

"Two."

"Wait…"

"Time's up." Kayn swung his scythe back.

"You were part of the enlisted kids, weren't you?"

"Close enough." Ryze tightened his fist as Kayn lurched forward with his weapon. The prison around Draven deflected the assassin's attack.

"Spare me your conscience, mage." Kayn continued to batter Ryze's cage. "This kill is mine, so don't bother wasting your energy on maintaining the barrier."

"My conscience has nothing to do with the consequences this murder will bring." Ryze flinched. "The entire Noxian army will be on our tail!"

"Murder?" Shadows cascaded from Kayn's body, saturating the area around him. "This is not murder ‒ this is justice."

"Sometimes justice must be neglected when trying to save the world." Ryze surrendered, the rune prison dissipating. "If you kill him, I will find my own path."

"Noxus took my childhood away." Kayn sidestepped a punch from Draven ‒ dropped his scythe ‒ and placed him in a chokehold. "The only thing this stain deserves is to be put down like the many he has executed."

"Is your vengeance more important to you than bringing Zed back from the nightmare that's taken hold of him?" Ryze sighed. "Or have you forgotten the purpose of this journey already?"

"Zed…" Kayn released Draven, and the executioner fell to his knees, hacking.

"Good choice." Ryze turned to Draven. "Get on our ship."

"How do I know the ship won't magically sail to Bilgewater?" Draven wiped his mouth and stood up.

"You don't." Ryze teleported the Noxian to the other ship and removed the planks. "You'll get to Noxus in roughly one week ‒ plenty of time for us to do what we need to do here in the magical land of Ionia."

"First he lets them run…" Kayn opened his hand and the scythe floated into it from the ship's floor.

"What?" Ryze raised an eyebrow.

"And then he cuts them down." The assassin threw his weapon. It spun until it lodged itself in Draven's skull. The Noxian's knees buckled, and his body thudded onto the deck.

"What have you done?" The mage's eyes widened.

"What so many others couldn't." Kayn looked at Ryze. "Or wouldn't."

Ravens flocked towards the Noxian vessel and cackled. The wind carried the sound of the birds towards the coastline of Ionia, and a few moments later: the sound of a horn. Noxian soldiers dressed for battle with their silver-plated armor and boarded the ships docked at their encampment.

"You've made your bed." Ryze spread his arms ‒ his pinky and ring finger folded down and the other three pointed up. "Now lie in it."

"Gladly." Kayn placed one hand on the helm of the 'The Glorious Executioner,' and set it on a collision course with the oncoming Noxian fleet.

The runes engraved on the ship's floor that encircled Ryze activated, and the mage dematerialized. Reappearing on the Ionian coast ‒ a few miles away from the enemy's base ‒ he glanced at the converging ships, and turned his back on Kayn.


End file.
